Rising star: Ashley Darcy-Mahoney

Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, 34

Assistant professor and director of infant research
George Washington University School of Nursing
Washington, D.C.

Already building a national following, the “Talk with Me Baby” program got a huge bump in 2014 when then-President Barack Obama cited it during a speech: “Georgia is building on their successful preschool program by launching something called 'Talk with Me Baby'—which sounds like an Al Green song but is actually … a program to make sure language learning begins in the very first weeks of a child's life.” Ashley Darcy-Mahoney was then an assistant professor of nursing at Emory University and the only nurse on the panel that launched the program. Two years ago, she brought her passion for improving care to George Washington University.